Friday, January 15, 2016

I had the pleasure of attending a grade 3-6 recreation league wrestling match between Granville and Watkins Memorial last night with my wife. We live in Granville and my wife teaches in the Watkins school district. We knew many of the kids competing. I left practice at Ohio State where I get to work with a world champion, 4 time NCAA champion and many others that I anticipate being in the finals in Madison Square Garden this year, it was refreshing to go see the sport at it's seed stage. Besides seeing some really cute kids win and lose, an observation of a parent really disturbed me. Enough to write this.

Early in the duel meet a young boy walked out to what I think this could have been his first match, if not he didn't have 5 under his belt yet. He was excited, and I noticed his father helping him to prepare and sending him out. The match started and the young boy was thrown directly to his back. Now be clear, this happened to at least 10 kids that night, this is rec wrestling. His father yelled to get off his back loudly, to no avail, tonight's match ended in a rather quick pin. This is where Mr. Dad, you missed an opportunity. The young wrestler was upset. When he walked to you he was not greeted with love and understanding, he was given a reaction of disgust. You didn't want to console or process the match, you pushed him towards his team mates and tossed his t-shirt at him. It was obvious that you were disappointed and had higher expectations for your son.

So, Mr. Dad, I hope you get to read this because I don't want you to miss out on anymore opportunities. These opportunities come quickly and will pass amazingly fast. My daughter began her athletic carrier the same as your son in Granville Rec wrestling, and lost in much the same way. But the difference is that when she returned to her mother and I, there was no doubt in her mind that win or lose, we would never be disappointed with the outcome of an event. Our love is for her and her willingness to explore beyond her boundaries. Losses are opportunities to coach and parent. As my daughter has grown, without-a-doubt, the greatest privilege I have is watching my child practice and compete. There is nothing I enjoy more. The season in 8th grade when I was afforded the privilege to coach her and her friends, priceless. As a coach, your athletes have to know you love them, regardless of outcome. My daughter is leaving next year to attend a D1 school and compete athletically. I'm confident, had I greeted her in the same manner as you greeted your son, she wouldn't be in sport today.

Another point of reference, I was privileged to compete at a D1 school in wrestling and was quite successful there. The experience has defined my life. But, my athletic career didn't start out like gang busters. I didn't win my first varsity match until my junior year in high school. In fact, I cried every day in practice as a freshman. But while the experience on the mat may have been disappointing, I knew regardless of the outcome, I was loved, my parents knew losing was part of the growth process, and I knew that I was loved. One time during my senior year in high school as I finished my warm up, to look up to the end of the gym to see my dad standing there in dirty Carhartt's covered in coal dust. My parents worked opposite shifts in order to see that one of them was home with us at all times. My dad was a coal miner and it would have been easy for him to miss my match, he was working. But my dad would schedule his lunch break so he could drive to the school, slip in to see me wrestle, and then go to work and finish his shift. I learned my love and true understanding of sport from the love of my mother and father. I lost a lot, but my dad never missed a chance to be a dad. Mr. Dad, you still have a chance.

I'm attending the funeral of my college coach this week. It's been a difficult time reflecting on our relationship. But as I reflect and as I think, I want to pass along another story. As I said earlier, I was quite successful as a wrestler in college, eventually qualifying for the national tournament my senior year. I was the only wrestler on my team to qualify that year. My coach didn't attend the nationals with me. He choose to stay home and see his son compete in the state high school tournament. I was quite salty about this for quite a while after. It wasn't until I had my own child and began to watch her compete. I can't imagine missing one of my daughters events. But what dawned on me was that my coach was missing most his own kids events while coaching us. What I've come to understand is that he was giving me more that his own sons and daughter. He made a huge personal sacrifice for me and my teammates. I was privileged to have great role models in parents and coaches. The value of being that father who nurtures your son through life has nothing to do with the number of wins and losses. It has everything to do with how you respond! Please don't miss this opportunity again. It's priceless!

Friday, January 1, 2016

In my last post I addressed the challenge of keeping key
metabolic hormones in check during your weight-cutting period. This blog segment
focuses on taking down your hidden competitor: Fatigue. And more specifically,
how dehydration empowers fatigue, pushing much of the progress and improvement
you’ve trained for completely out of reach.

Sport scientists define fatigue as a decrement in the force
output of a muscle. Psychologists see fatigue as a ‘sensation’ of
tiredness. And physiologists define fatigue as the failure of a specific
physiological system. Consider that exercise is terminated at exhaustion—and
not at a point of fatigue. It is widely accepted that fatigue is a safety
mechanism that has evolved to prevent injury or death by means of overreaching.
But regardless of how you define it, fatigue is something we all fight with;
and regardless of physical and mental preparation, fatigue will always be
present.

What causes fatigue?

There are many things that can cause fatigue, not the least
of which is engaging in a work event that is beyond your capacity. This
type of fatigue is caused by our body’s inability to deliver the necessary
oxygen or nutrients in the blood to the working muscles. This is why we
train: To increase that capacity. But even if we have trained to, and
have the ability to do the necessary work, other factors can creep in and block
our ability to accomplish our goals.
Hydration levels have a direct impact on the blood volume and contribute to
success and failure rates.

Researchers have identified fatigue mechanisms that
originate in the neuromuscular system. These seem to be protective
systems in the body that can originate as high as the brain in the central
nervous system. Research has shown that in some athletes this level of
fatigue can limit work output by up to 32%. Researchers are not clear on
all of the factors that contribute to this “central governor” fatigue model,
but some that have been clearly shown are an imbalance in electrolyte
concentrations, and the brain perception of a lack of fuel. The ability
to replace key electrolytes and, in-turn, draw water into the blood plasma, is
an important part of strategic rehydration.

Research suggests that sweeter isn’t necessarily better.
In fact, scientists have shown that just sensation of sweetness in the mouth—not
glucose itself—will dampen the fatigue effect. In various studies,
athletes were asked to “swish the fluid around in the mouth, then spit it out.”
Those athletes saw an increase in performance versus those who merely drank
water. Other studies using sugar have also shown that more is not really
“more.” Athletes consuming concentrations as low as 2% have had similar
exercise times to failure as those consuming 18% concentrations. In
another interesting study, athletes were given glucose through an IV; those
athletes saw no improvement in performance over water alone. This is an
area that needs more research, but for now, be confident that a little
sweetness goes a long way.

Our brains monitor hydration levels closely. Because the brain interprets
dehydration as stress, it triggers a drop in performance. Too much
dehydration triggers production of stress hormones. The brain will limit
the number of muscle fibers you can recruit. Remember, a drop in total body water causes a drop in
blood plasma volume, which limits the body’s ability to deliver nutrients to the
muscles. We see this in combat sports like boxing and wrestling
and it’s been documented in sports as diverse as triathlons. Many times
hydration is a consideration of safety. Dehydration can lead to
cramping, exhaustion and even death due to heat stroke. But long before
we get to the point of illness, dehydration is contributing to fatigue and
limiting performance. The takeaway: Be sure to harvest all the hard work
you’ve done leading up to your event by keeping the opponent of fatigue on the
bench. Stay hydrated!